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Kevin Rushworth High River Times/QMI Agency. Shawn Wiebe, the ridiculously photogenic firefighter, reunites with Sheila Rowland, the lady he carried out of the floodwaters. On June 20, Calgary Sun photographer Lyle Aspinall snapped the picture that quickly went viral across the nation. 100 days after the flood, the two friends reflected on the last three months.

With 100 days now having passed since the June flooding, Sheila Rowland, well known for being plucked from the floodwater by Nanton's 'ridiculously photogenic firefighter', counts herself lucky to be carried to safety by her new friend Shawn Wiebe.

Though it's still a long road to recovery for High River, Rowland said the now famous picture seemed to have helped people know there was light to be found in tragedy, she explained

“A lot of firemen carried a lot of people that day, but I think I am the one who really lucked out with the fireman I got,” she said in an interview with the Times, commemorating 100 days since the flood.

While North America first became acquainted with Wiebe and Rowland thanks to Calgary Sun photographer Lyle Aspinall's photograph, the story for Rowland did not begin at that moment.

After waiting too long to escape from their southwest High River home on June 20, Rowland recalled leaving with her husband Bob and driving through the rising water.

Their truck stalled and died in the middle of the flooded intersection near the hospital. Rowland thought it was the end and vividly remembered her thoughts at that moment.

“I do remember thinking 'this could well be it,'” she said. “The water was coming into the truck and I was thinking 'we could just say our goodbyes to each other now and go down together.'”

Thankfully, this wasn't the case and a rescue crew in a boat alerted a front end loader, who came to rescue Rowland and Bob.

“They took us out through the window of the truck,” she remembered. “They took us to the Hitchin' Post and dropped us off.”

Ultimately, Rowland and her husband would be rescued again, this time by boat. It would be the time in which the photograph would be taken and the rest, as they say, was history.

“I left the house in my bare feet, because I didn't have any rubber boots,” Rowland said. “I spent all that time in my bare feet until a friend gave me the liners out of her son's boots. That's why I look so grand when Shawn picked me up out of the boat.”

Wiebe, who visited Rowland for a reunion Wednesday afternoon, said he was stationed at 12th Avenue and that it was his job to drag the boats in and help the people off.

“The look on Sheila's face, she looked tired. Seeing those boot liners, they were dripping,” he said, to which Rowland replied with 'styling.'

“I just thought you had big feet,” he said to her with a laugh.

Instead of having her climb back into the water, Wiebe scooped her up and that's where she said the famous line 'I haven't been carried like that since my wedding day.'

“It's just how I am,” Rowland said. “I open my mouth and out it comes.”

She said it was a marvellous photograph that was taken, but that it featured beauty—to which she pointed to Wiebe—and the beast, as she pointed back at herself.

“My sister called from Calgary on the Friday, as soon as she saw it,” she said, referring to the image on the Calgary Sun. “She was saving it for us and then a lot of relatives were owning up that I was related to them.”

Since that time, Rowland has been in constant touch with Wiebe and the photographer himself, Lyle Aspinall. She said it was really nice to make new friends.

“You gain something out of this, just on a personal level,” she said, referring to the friendships made thanks to that day High Riverites will never forget

Since the flood hit, Wiebe, who works at FarmWay as a wash bay operator, found himself temporarily out of work when the town was still closed.

His time was soon filled with multiple interviews from across the country. Everyone wanted to hear the story of the 'ridiculously photogenic firefighter' because of how it went viral across North America.

Wiebe said friendships are made in the weirdest ways. He had been friends with Rowland's daughter Jessica beforehand, but never put two and two together as to who he was rescuing that day.

Now back at work, Wiebe said each and every time he has to dismantle machinery, the mud and silt still remaining constantly reminds him about the events on June 20.

“It's still a reminder, every time I grab a piece of equipment,” he said. “It just blows my mind how deep it was and how fast it came in.”

Courtney Rowland, Sheila's daughter, said the flood is still very present in her mind, but when asked about her mom's famous photograph, she said she wasn't surprised in the slightest.

“It's my mom, it's typical,” she said, talking about her famous 'wedding day comment.' “My mom, she comes by it honestly and it's just the way (she) handles trying situations.”